Laptop for well everything

sharpy56

Hi Everyone,

Just wanting some help here as im not to sure when it comes to hardware of laptops. I want something incredibly fast as I can't waste time waiting for things to load so was wanting an SSD in a laptop - Wouldn't bother me if the full size was only 120Gb's etc (I have numerous external HDD"s and the cost next to nothing these days).

I was just wondering is there something you can recommend?

It will be used for everything, gaming, studying, word processing, scripting - general learning of certifications (just wanting something that won't slow down and keeps everything loading instantly).

In the past I have bought at $500 laptop Asus A53b which is OK but way to slow for what I need - could make two cups of tea by the time it starts up.

Thanks in advanced!

ptilsen

Do yourself a favor and spend at least $900 on a good Ultrabook. Minimum 256GB SSD, preferably 512GB. I cannot stress enough that the SSD is mandatory. Tote around an external or even USB flash drives, if it comes down to it. It's a night and day difference in performance.

Other than that, a good Core i5 or better with 8GB of RAM or more will do. I love the 16GB on my desktop, but my laptop is just fine with 12GB. I bought a Sony Vaio S-series last year (comes with GT 640M and was the best mobility/gaming compromise I could find), put a 256GB Crucial M4 in it, and I've been fairly happy. It's just a tad off the Ultrabook spec, but there should be comparable or better available with Haswell. It boots in maybe 7-12 seconds, depending, and that's with Windows 7 and plenty of startup apps.

If you really want to shell out, the Haswell MacBook Pro Retina, whenever it becomes available, is likely to be the pinnacle of mobile performance. I say that as a Windows person who's never owned a Mac. The hardware on the current MBP+R still tops even Haswell Ultrabooks. We're talking like $2000-$3000 here, though, so realistically you may want to "settle" for a Windows laptop.

I won't recommend a manufacturer because they all kind of suck, one generation or another. Look at individual laptop reviews to get a feel for the models you consider. If they have Microsoft stores in Australia, they are a great place to test out laptops. Better than Best Buy or whatever big box retailers you have.

gc8dc95

My 'everything' laptop is an i5, 16GB ram, and 512GB SSD. It does everything I need.

Akaricloud

The Dell Latitude I've had for a few years now was great for an all purpose machine but pretty much every vendor makes something that would fit your needs.

Couple tips:
Get a larger SSD than you think you need. If you ever want to do any labbing off this, VMs will fill it up quick(and not run well from anything external).

RAM. RAM is a cheap, go for at least 8GB(16 preferred) and keep in mind the maximum that it can be upgraded to. I've been wishing I could up mine more but I've hit the motherboard max.

NotHackingYou

My Retina MacBook Pro handles everything I throw at it - including running 5 Windows VMs at once.

Hypntick

I purchased a Sager NP6110, super portable, i7, 16 GB of RAM, GT650M, and a 256 SSD. Handles absolutely everything I can throw at it, including multiple VMs, and, if you're into it, gaming.

sharpy56

Are they server VM's or just workstation?

sharpy56

No gaming as of yet, just the studying and things like that, but would like to buy a laptop once without needing to upgrade for about 5 years as I did with my PC

sharpy56

How large is the SSD that you purchased? Just so I know what is enough.

I already have a designated server to run all the VM's I need with 32 GB of memory and 4 processors

NotHackingYou

In my case there's one Win7 VM and then usually around 4 Server 2008/2008R2/2012 VMs

gorebrush

I bought a Lenovo Yoga 13" lately - Dual Core i5, upped the RAM to 8GB and it has a 128GB SSD as standard. When I get the funds I will drop another SSD in the spare slot.

Love it.

The IPS 1600x900 13" screen is just lovely.

spicy ahi

This is a pretty timely thread as I'm going through the same thing right now. Looking for a laptop that can do multiple things: portable enough to bring with me as I'll probably carry it around with me every day, quad core and minimum 16GB RAM to assign to a few VMs, a nice screen that will allow me to read pdfs and kindle books. It's a tall order for one singular machine, and I haven't found a "right fit." At this moment, it's down to a macbook air (portability great, specs bad, screen so-so) Dell M6500 (portability horrendous, specs really good, screen pretty good) and a retina macbook pro (portability good, specs so-so, screen really good) Luckily for me, I've got a few months to take stock of what I do day to day with my current laptop (2011 macbook pro) and see which of the three fills most of my needs. Or I might find out that what I have is good enough and I can set the money aside for something else (like maybe OSCP training whenever I work up the courage)

paul78

I recently bought a new laptop. I tend to keep my computers for more than 5 years so I decided to spend some effort to consider what I really wanted. Especially since it's something that I use every day.

My choice of form-factor was heavily influenced by another thread about tablets on this forum. I was using multiple tablet to suit different needs and I also had an older but bulky and loud laptop. When traveling or even going back/forth to work, it was cumbersome.

I settled on a Dell XPS-12. My primary requirements were based in priority on (a) replacing the 2 tablets and laptop that I was using so I was seeking an ultrabook convertible, (b) Haswell based as I wanted long battery life (3) wireless AC for decent wireless.

The form factor that I really liked was the Lenovo Helix but it wasn't available with a Haswell-based processor.

I have only had the new XPS-12 for about 2-3 weeks and so far its the right choice for me. A few things about it:

Pros:
1) very light ultrabook compared to what I had before
2) the tablet conversion was suprsingly simple and sturdy
3) I run vmware player and it works great.
4) decent keyboard layout
5) I was able to replace all my tablets
6) large mouse pad
7) decent battery life
very comfortable to hold in tablet mode
9) the speakers are surprisingly decent.

Cons:
1) Typical Dell bloatware. Used nearly 40% of the available disk. I bought with 128Gb SSD.
2) Mousepad swipes between desktops unexpectedly.
3) Wireless seems to have trouble connecting when switching locations. Biggest annoyance.
4) Fan is a bit more noisy than I expected but a lot less than what I was previously using. But still reasonable.
5) Lacks HDMI output

My biggest regret so far is not getting a larger drive since I have multiple virtual disks for vmware player.

QHalo

I have a Lenovo w530 with a quad 2.7, 32GB of RAM, and two SSDs in it. It runs two ONTAP simulators, two virtual routers, two vcenters and four nested hosts with no real slow down. That's my mobile lab.

tpatt100

I have a Macbook Pro and I love it but really any good ultrabook will do except you listed "gaming" which I am not even sure what is a decent gaming laptop or what you consider "gaming". I know Sager seems highly recommended. I had an Alienware laptop a few years ago and it was great for gaming but had hardware issues and weighed a ton. I would rather just build a bare minimum desktop and use that for gaming and the laptop for everything else.